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The Conclusion of God-Dating!
Hols <>
March 25, 2003

"Know the power of God in your weakest hour...
        God is an 11:59 God, never too late,
              always right on time."
                 -source unknown

      Every semester the Arrive Alive Club at my school sponsors a blood drive. The Red Cross comes and they set up a blood donation center where parents and students alike may come and donate blood. After the 9/11 tragedy and the massive blood supply shortage that followed, I decided that I would participate in
the next blood drive. So, about a year ago, I gave blood for the first time. Not a big deal, right?
Right... until I tried to get up afterwards and start walking. My ears started to ring, I got really dizzy,
my vision went blurry, then black. And right before I hit the floor, a Red Cross doctor caught me, put me
in a special chair, then flipped me upside down to make my blood flow to my head. I needed to be caught.
I needed that chair. And right when I needed it the most, it was there. (By the way, I've given blood
twice since then... and I'm fine. This is in no way an anti-blood drive message! Haha!)
      God is the same way. He knows what we need and when we need it. And even better, He's gonna give us what we need exactly when we need it. This is kinda gonna conclude the whole dating series as we move on to more serious topics. I had a few more issues planned on dating, but I feel sorta superficial talking about that when more serious issues are facing our nation. So with that in mind, we're talking about God and our needs.
      As humans, we need everything. We need food and shelter and clothing. But more importantly, we need love... acceptance... friends, family, a place to belong. We need to have fun, we need to cry, we need
to be emotional. We need so much that we cannot handle our needs on our own! As a high schooler, more often than not, we think that we NEED a boyfriend or a girlfriend. I have news for you... you don't. We've talked about this for weeks now... You are an amazing creation, made in the image of God. (Check out Genesis 1:27!) And God wants to have a deep, personal, intimate relationship with you... (check out
http://www.geocities.com/mustard_seed_news/R.2.htm) And God wants you to have the desires of your heart. Let's all check out this verse from Psalm 37. "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the
desires of your heart." (NIV) Or in other translations: "Keep company with God, and get in on
the best." (MSG) "Delight yourself also in the Lord and He will give you the desires and the secret
petitions of your heart." (NASB) "Take delight in the Lord and He will give you your heart's desires."
(NLT). Do you understand yet? Or should I explain further? I think I'll explain... 1) You want stuff.
Maybe it's a date, maybe it's love, maybe it's acceptance.... whatever it is... 2) God will give it
to you. IF you 3) DELIGHT YOURSELF IN THE LORD! Okay, now some of you probably still don't get it so, I'm gonna pound this point into the ground. There are things in this world that we need and that we want. Some of them, we don't even know we need them (the secret petitions of our heart), but God does know that we secretly, inwardly want and need them. But the key to getting your desires is not to seek them. Instead seek the Lord. I'm reading this series of books by Tommy Tenney: one's called The God Chasers and the other is The God Catchers. The first is all about becoming so hungry for God's presence that you chase after Him and long for more of Him in everything you do. The second book is about experiencing the presence of God. Both are incredible books, and I encourage each of you to read both. The common thread of both books though is the more you chase after God, the more often you will catch Him. And the more often you catch Him, the hungrier you will become for Him, and the hungrier you are, the more you will chase and catch and it's a cycle that starts all over again. And this pursuit eats up all of your time. It takes over your life. But as your life is focused on God, you are delighting in the Lord, you are keeping His company, you are seeking after the God who will grant you your deepest desires. And when all you care about is your next face-to-face with God moment, THEN God will give you the desires of your heart. Because it is in those face-to-face moments where your desires become His desires. And when His desires are your desires, God gives them to you, because you are in His will. Isn't that incredible? I'm so amazed at God's power!
      I have one other point to make. Too many times we try and take things into our own hands. We say that we are delighting in the Lord, but we forget to figure out what His desires are for our lives. We get
frustrated and mad because suddenly we don't have what we want. This is where God's timing comes in. Like the quote at the beginning of this issue: God is never too late, but always right on time. Psalm 27:14 says this "Wait patiently for the Lord. Be strong and courageous and wait patiently for the Lord." (NLT)
Now waiting is not really my thing. I HATE WAITING! And I imagine that an awful lot of you hate waiting
too. Take me driving for example... I'll be cruising down the road and watching the traffic light ahead of
me, knowing that if it turns red, I can whip into this neighborhood and take this shortcut (that really isn't
a shortcut, just a way around the light). However, I don't want to slow down just in case it stays green,
but I don't want to speed up in case it turns red and I have to slam on my brakes. And unless I've passed
the neighborhood, if the light turns red, I will take the turn into the neighborhood on two wheels just to
avoid waiting at that red light. That's how much I absolutely HATE waiting! But the Lord tells us to
wait on Him. And so that is what I have had to learn how to do.... wait on God and His timing. Tommy
Tenney says this in "The God Catchers," "Waiting is the art of purposeful anticipation of the next
moment." Isn't that cool? Waiting isn't just sitting around doing nothing. Waiting is exactly the
opposite! It's getting ready in ANTICIPATION of what God's gonna do next in your life. Is your secret
desire a boyfriend? Then in purposeful anticipation, you should be preparing your life and your heart for
that possibility. Is your secret desire more time with your family? Then until God gives it to you, you
should be preparing yourself for the time that you will spend with them in purposeful anticipation. God
knows what you need. And He'll give it to you... right when you need it. So be ready to be blessed.
Anticipate. Pray. Seek. Wait. Chase. Catch. Get hungry. Chase some more. Anticipate more. Seek
more. Pray more. Catch God more.

We're praying for you all. Join us every night at 8:00 PM to pray for the war. Love in Christ, the Mustard Seed Staff <><

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